Home > Store

Learning Blender, 3rd Edition

Register your product to gain access to bonus material or receive a coupon.

Learning Blender, 3rd Edition

Best Value Purchase

Book + eBook Bundle

  • Your Price: $51.04
  • List Price: $87.98
  • Includes EPUB and PDF
  • About eBook Formats
  • This eBook includes the following formats, accessible from your Account page after purchase:

    ePub EPUB The open industry format known for its reflowable content and usability on supported mobile devices.

    Adobe Reader PDF The popular standard, used most often with the free Acrobat® Reader® software.

    This eBook requires no passwords or activation to read. We customize your eBook by discreetly watermarking it with your name, making it uniquely yours.

More Purchase Options

Book

  • Your Price: $35.99
  • List Price: $44.99
  • Usually ships in 24 hours.

eBook (Watermarked)

  • Your Price: $34.39
  • List Price: $42.99
  • Includes EPUB and PDF
  • About eBook Formats
  • This eBook includes the following formats, accessible from your Account page after purchase:

    ePub EPUB The open industry format known for its reflowable content and usability on supported mobile devices.

    Adobe Reader PDF The popular standard, used most often with the free Acrobat® Reader® software.

    This eBook requires no passwords or activation to read. We customize your eBook by discreetly watermarking it with your name, making it uniquely yours.

About

Features

  • Learning Blender walks students through every step of creating an outstanding animated character with the free, open source, 3D software Blender, and then composing it in a real video using a professional workflow. 
  • This is the only Blender tutorial to take you from preproduction to final result, and it is perfect for both 3D novices and those who have used other 3D Software.
  • Focusing on Blender 2.78 and above, 3D-professional and Blender Foundation Certified Trainer Oliver Villar explains all the basics, including the Blender interface, controls, and how to manipulate objects. Once you have mastered the fundamentals, you will follow a realistic 3D workflow through a complete project.
  • You will find chapters on every aspect of the character creation: design, modeling, unwrapping, texturing, shading, rigging, and animation. 
  • Once your character is ready and animated, you will learn how to integrate it into a real video using camera tracking techniques, lighting, and compositing. 
  • Each skillset is taught hands on, and available online video tutorials will guide you through the trickier tasks in Blender.
  • By the time you are done, you will understand how the whole process fits together, and how to use Blender to create amazing characters for all types of media. You will also build strong Blender skills you can later apply in any 3D project, whether it involves characters or not.

Description

  • Copyright 2021
  • Dimensions: 7" x 9"
  • Pages: 448
  • Edition: 3rd
  • Book
  • ISBN-10: 0-13-641175-4
  • ISBN-13: 978-0-13-641175-8

Master the Newest Blender Techniques for Creating Amazing 3D Characters: From Design and Modeling to Video Compositing

Now fully updated for Blender 2.83 LTS (Long-Term Support) and beyond, Learning Blender, Third Edition, walks you through every step of creating an outstanding 3D animated character with Blender, and then compositing it in a real video using a professional workflow. This edition covers the extensive interface changes of the software, as well as many improvements and some almost fully rewritten chapters to showcase more modern workflows.

Still the only Blender tutorial to take you from preproduction to final result, this guide is perfect for both novices and those moving from other software to Blender (open source and free software). Author Oliver Villar provides full-color, hands-on chapters that cover every aspect of character creation: design, modeling, unwrapping, texturing, shading, rigging, animation, and rendering. He also walks you through integrating your animated character into a real-world video, using professional camera tracking, lighting, and compositing techniques.

The rich companion website (blendtuts.com/learning-blender-files) will help you quickly master even the most complex techniques with bonus contents like video tutorials. By the time you're done, you'll be ready to create outstanding characters for all media -- and you'll have up-to-date skills for any 3D project, whether it involves characters or not.

  • Learn Blender's updated user interface and navigation
  • Create your first scene with Blender and the Blender Render and Cycles render engines
  • Organize an efficient, step-by-step pipeline to streamline workflow in any project
  • Master modeling, unwrapping, and texturing
  • Bring your character to life with materials and shading in both Cycles and EEVEE (the new real-time render engine included in Blender)
  • Create your character's skeleton and make it walk
  • Use Camera Tracking to mix 3D objects into a real-world video
  • Transform a raw rendered scene into the final result using Blender's compositing nodes
Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.

Downloads

Downloads

Download code files from the author's site: blendtuts.com/learning-blender-files.

Extras

Author's Site

Please visit the author's site at blendtuts.com.

Sample Content

Online Sample Chapter

How to Create a Scene in Blender

Sample Pages

Download the sample pages (includes Chapter 3)

Table of Contents

Preface xxv
Acknowledgments xxxi
About the Author xxxiii


Part I: The Basics of Blender 1

Chapter 1: What You Need to Know About Blender 3

What Is Blender? 3
Commercial Software Versus Open-Source Software 4
History of Blender 6
Blender Foundation and Blender Development 8
Who Pays for Blender’s Development? 10
The Blender Community 10
Summary 11
Exercises 12

Chapter 2: Blender Basics: The User Interface 13
Downloading and Installing Blender 13
Using Blender with Recommended Hardware 13
Using Blender’s User Interface 15
Understanding Areas and Editors 16
Using Workspaces 21
Getting to Know Blender’s Interface Elements 23
Understanding the 3D Viewport 26
Navigating the 3D Scene 31
Selecting Objects 33
Understanding the 3D Cursor 35
Understanding Blender’s User Preferences 37
Creating Your Own Startup File 39
Summary 40
Exercises 40

Chapter 3: Your First Scene in Blender 41
Creating Objects 41
Moving, Rotating, and Scaling 42
Arranging Objects in Your Scene 48
Naming Objects and Using Datablocks 49
Using Interaction Modes 51
Applying Flat or Smooth Surfaces 53
Working with Modifiers 54
Using Workbench, EEVEE, and Cycles 57
Turning On the Lights 62
Moving the Camera in Your Scene 62
Rendering 63
Summary 66
Exercises 66

Part II: Beginning a Project 67

Chapter 4: Project Overview 69

Three Stages of a Project 69
Defining the Stages 71
Making a Character-Creation Plan 73
Summary 74
Exercises 74

Chapter 5: Character Design 75
Character Description 75
Designing the Character 78
Adding Color 84
Finalizing the Design 85
Making Character Reference Images 86
Using Other Design Methods 88
Summary 89
Exercises 89

Part III: Modeling in Blender 91

Chapter 6: Blender Modeling Tools 93

Working with Vertices, Edges, and Faces 93
Making Selections 95
Using Mesh Modeling Tools 100
Using Modeling Add-Ons 120
Using Other Useful Blender Options and Tools 123
Summary 125
Exercises 125

Chapter 7: Character Modeling 127
What Is Mesh Topology? 127
Choosing Modeling Methods 129
Setting up the Reference Images 131
Modeling the Eyes 135
Modeling the Face 139
Modeling the Torso and Arms 150
Modeling the Legs 159
Modeling the Boots 161
Modeling the Hands 164
Modeling the Cap 168
Modeling the Hair 172
Modeling the Final Details 176
Summary 180
Exercises 180

Part IV: Unwrapping, Painting, and Shading 181

Chapter 8: Unwrapping and UVs in Blender 183

Seeing How Unwrapping and UVs Work 183
Unwrapping in Blender 184
Considering Before Unwrapping 191
Working with UVs in Blender 193
Unwrapping the Rest of the Character 200
Packing UVs 202
Summary 203
Exercises 204

Chapter 9: Painting Textures 205
Defining the Main Workflow 205
Texture Painting in Blender 206
Creating the Base Texture 214
Understanding the Elements of a Texture 215
Texturing in Other Software 216
Seeing the Painted Character in Blender 223
Summary 223
Exercises 224

Chapter 10: Materials and Shaders 225
Understanding Materials 225
Masks and Layers 230
Channels 231
Shading Your Character 236
Running Render Tests 246
Summary 252
Exercises 252

Part V: Bringing Your Character to Life 253

Chapter 11: Character Rigging 255

Understanding the Rigging Process 255
Working with Armatures 257
Rigging Your Character 267
Skinning 278
Creating Custom Shapes 305
Making Final Retouches 306
Reusing Your Character in Different Scenes 307
Summary 310
Exercises 310

Chapter 12: Animating Your Character 311
Using the Character’s Rig 311
Posing the Character 312
Working with Animation Editors 315
Animating a Walk Cycle 321
Summary 326
Exercises 326

Part VI: Getting the Final Result 327

Chapter 13: Camera Tracking in Blender 329

Understanding Camera Tracking 329
Shooting Video for Easy Tracking 330
Using the Movie Clip Editor 332
Tracking the Camera Motion 333
Testing Camera Tracking 343
Summary 343
Exercises 343

Chapter 14: Lighting, Compositing, and Rendering 345
Lighting Your Scene 345
Rendering and Compositing Your Scene in Cycles 356
Rendering and Compositing Your Scene with EEVEE 361
Exporting the Final Render 365
Summary 367
Exercises 367

Part VII: Keep Learning 369

Chapter 15: Other Blender Features 371

Simulations 371
2D Animation 373
VFX: Masking, Object Tracking, and Video
Stabilization 373
Video Editing 374
Sculpting 374
Retopology 375
Maps Baking 375
Add-Ons 375
Python Scripting 376
Summary 376

Index 379

Updates

Errata

We've made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this book and its companion content. Any errors that have been confirmed since this book was published can be downloaded below.

Download the errata (176 KB .doc)

Submit Errata

More Information

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020